WIOD
'''WIOD (610 AM, "News Radio 610 WIOD") is a news/talk formatted radio station in Miami, Florida. For over 80 years, it has been a major information station in South Florida. It features nationally conservative syndicated programs wrapped around locally produced news, traffic & weather reports, 24/7. Installed in the spring of 1925 by Carl Graham Fisher, a Miami Beach developer, the station made it's formal air debut on the South Florida airwaves on January 19, 1926. Carl Fisher selected the letters WIOD as the call letters signifying “Wonderful Isles of Dreams” to commemorate Collins Island, on which the station was situated. WIOD is Florida’s 7th oldest continuously licensed broadcast radio station. From 1959-1962, the call letters were changed to WCKR - Cox-Knight Broadcasting had once owned the station as well as WCKT-TV, now WSVN. Branded Wacker Radio, they attempted a rock & roll format but were unsuccessful against strong competition. "News Radio 610 WIOD" arguably features 1 of the largest radio news departments in the Southeast United States & has consistently been the most frequent winner in annual Florida AP statewide competitions. 610 WIOD may be best known for it's continuous hurricane coverage, particularly Andrew, Katrina & Wilma. Despite the station's class B status, it has strong daytime & nighttime signal. This is due to parts of the tower's guy ground system resting in the brackish mix of fresh & salt waters of Biscayne Bay. WIOD, positioned as "South Florida's News, Traffic & Weather Station" is O&O by Clear Channel Communications, the largest US radio owner. WIOD is an affiliate of the FOX News Radio network. It also is affiliated with The Weather Channel, Dow Jones & Company (for "The Wall Street Journal Business Report") & has a news & weather content sharing relationship with WPLG ("Local 10"). 610 WIOD was the radio flagship of the 2006 NBA champions Miami Heat from 1996-2008. It's also the "official" broadcast emergency station for the Broward County Commission. Current hosts The show airs all syndicated programming outside of weekday mornings. "South Florida's First News," is the morning news/talk program from 5-9 AM. Jimmy Cefalo is the host. Nathalie Rodriguez is the news anchor. Wendi Grossman is reporter & Christina Kautz provides updates. Ron Philips is traffic reporter. Weather info is provided by The Weather Channel. Sports updates from Jeremy Marks-Peltz, who also serves as the studio host of the Miami Heat Radio Network. The rest of the weekday line-up includes syndicated talk programming such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh & Todd Schnitt's The Schnitt Show, which are aired mid-days & afternoons live. The Schnitt Show originated on WIOD in 2001 before being syndicated back to Tampa & further. Sean Hannity, Mark Levin & George Noory's "Coast To Coast AM" program fill out evenings & overnights. Former hosts WIOD - under different ownership - boasts some big names along it's alumni including but not limited to Larry King, Neil Rogers, Sally Jessy Raphael, Ron Bennington, Mike Reinieri, Bill Calder, Alan Burke, Sandy Peyton, Rick & Suds, Hank Goldberg, Randi Rhodes, Chris Baker, Phil Hendrie, Joey Reynolds, Dave Lamont, Tom Leykis, Jack Ellery, Traffic Reporter Joe Brennan who now works @ Connecticut School of Broadcasting & Traffic Reporter George Sheldon who now works @ WLOS-TV 13 in Asheville, NC Controversy In June 2007, the all-Democratic county commission in Broward County was on the verge of rejecting WIOD as the official channel for emergency information because of concerns it's also home to Rush Limbaugh & other conservative talk show hosts. On his radio show Rush Limbaugh said, "They are politicizing the delivery of emergency news, which is non-partisan". After complaints from around the country, the commission decided to keep using the radio station. External links * News Radio 610 WIOD's Website * News Radio 610 WIOD's Schedule page * News Radio 610 WIOD's Streaming page * History of News Radio 610 WIOD page